Hold All Tickets: Week 2 And They’re Off and Running…

A bit of a mixed bag for us in week one…as it turned out, we felt fortunate to break even. The Hogs looked good for a cover at the half, but faded at the finish. LSU finally woke up in the third quarter and ralled for a push. We’ll take it and move on.

In our little competition with Arkansas Fight, we got the best of Graham in Week one by a slim margin. We’ve got a little work to do before we can start talking some trash though. 😉 You can see Graham’s Week 2 picks here.

Last Week

2-2-1

4-5-1

Year to Date

2-2-1 50.0%

4-5-1 45.0%

Here we go.

Western Kentucky at Illinois – One of the things we learned in Week 1 was that there is some offensive firepower left over from the Bobby Petrino year at WKU for Jeff Brohm. The Hilltoppers took the fight to and destroyed a good Bowling Green team 59-31 last week. Illinois on the other hand needed a fourth quarter comeback to drop FCS opponent Youngstown State 28-17. Former Oklahoma State QB Wes Lunt is leading the Illini now, but has a green group of receivers to throw to that struggled mightly in the opener. Illinois lost the line of scrimmage battle to YSU, and I expect the same thing this week vs. WKU…and we’re getting some points to boot. Western Kentucky +6.

Michigan State at Oregon – We love watching Oregon play. The high powered, fast paced way QB Marcus Mariota and RBs Byron Marshall and Thomas Tyner fly down the field is a thing of beauty. The Ducks though have struggled in games where the opponent is more physical at the line of scrimmage (see Stanford the 2009-2013). Michigan State has a ‘Stanford-kind-of-team’ and will not be intimidated by the Autzen crazies. The Spartans can run the ball and shorten this game. Too many for the Ducks to cover…even at home. Michigan State +12.

Maryland at South Florida – The Bulls were really bad last year, and if Week 1 is any indication, it’s going to be another long year in Tampa. USF escaped FCS foe Western Carolina 36-31 last week. WCU had 5 players suspended, has only won four games in the last three years…and get this…three of those four wins were against a Division II team called Mars Hill. YIKES!!!! Maryland has 17 starters back, including dual-threat QB C.J. Brown. Randy Edsall has the Terps playing tough up front on both sides of the ball, and that should be enough to roll the Bulls. Maryland -12.

Duke at Troy – David Cutcliff really knows how to schedule…he’ll even come to your place if it smells like a ‘win’. The Blue Devils have the potent offense again this season, led by senior QB Anthony Boone. Troy lost last week 48-10 against Garrick McGee’s UAB leftovers, who went 2-10 last year. The Trojans gave up a staggering 338 rushing yards in the process. Ouch. Dickey V likes it as the Dukies run it up. Duke -18.5.

Arizona State at New Mexico – The ASU trio of QB Taylor Kelly, RB D.J. Foster and WR Jalen Strong just ran wild in their 45-14 win against outmanned Weber State last week. They were out of the game mid-third quarter as the reserves finished things up. On the flip side, New Mexico lost at home to UTEP, who looks to be one of the bottom-feeders in C-USA. The Lobos can’t throw it at all, attempting only 9 passes last week. However, starting QB Cole Gautsche was brilliant running for 184 yards and 2TDs before being injured in the fourth quarter. HC Bob Davie has said Gautsche (hamstring) is out this week against the Sun Devils. We think ASU will get out fast and not look back. New Mexico is not built to play catch up. Arizona State -25.